Battle of Popasna

Combat at Popasna

A portion of the 2022 Battle of Donbas, the Donbas War, and the Eastern Ukraine Offensive Ukrainian invasion by Russia

between March 18 and May 7, 2022 (1 month, 2 weeks and 5 days)

Location Popasna, Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast

Russian victory as a result

Belligerents Russia \s Luhansk PR Ukraine \sCommanders and leaders \s Hennadiy Shcherbak † \sUnits involved \s Russian Armed Forces

Kadyrovites of Luhansk People's Militia of Chechnya

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Mechanized 24th Brigade

losses and casualties

Ukraine claims that 20 to 25 mercenaries were killed[3].

Russian claim: over 120 dead (as of 12 April)

[4]

Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022

The battle of Popasna took place in the Luhansk Oblast city of Popasna and involved joint Russian-LPR and Ukrainian forces. The conflict, which was a component of the 2022 Battle of Donbas and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, lasted from March 18 until May 7, 2022.

Contents

1 Background \s2 Battle \s3 Aftermath \s4 References

Background

Popasna, which had a population of approximately 22,000 before the invasion, was a significant regional hub with a number of road intersections that were essential to the Russian advance during the eastern Ukraine war.

[5]

On March 18, 2022, fighting between Russia and Ukraine broke out for control of the strongly guarded city. On April 18, troops from the Russian Armed Forces and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) advanced and seized Kreminna, which was located further to the north. day daydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydaydayday

Midway through April, artillery and airstrikes were conducted by Russian and LPR forces against Ukrainian positions in the Popasna region. In frontline neighborhoods, residents sought refuge in cellars as fighting and bombardment continued. The Institute for the Study of War reports that the Russian force was not making much progress on the ground as of 18 April. Russian-LPR forces reportedly increased their artillery and missile barrages in the area on April 20 in response to Ukrainian counterattacks that night, according to pro-Russian sources. The same day, Hennadii Shcherbak, a "Ukrainian nationalist who collaborated with NATO instructors," was allegedly assassinated in Popasna, according to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. [6] [7]

One of the primary defense forces in the area, Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade, claimed to have killed a 25-man unit of pro-Russian foreign mercenaries during nocturnal skirmishes in and around Popasna on April 21. The unit's bodies allegedly included identification documents from Libya and Syria, according to Oleksiy Danilov, director of Ukraine's National Security Council. The 24th Mechanized Brigade claimed to have effectively repelled their attack and made the implication that the militants were foreign combatants of the private military firm Wagner Group and rural Russian locals. Danilov said that Popasna was still entirely under Ukrainian control, but Serhiy Haidai, the head of the Luhansk Regional Administration, claimed that fierce battle was still going on for the city. [8]

Serhiy Haidai said that the Russian army had lost in Popasna and Rubizhne on April 22. case procedcasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecasecase [9] But on May 7, allegedly Russian mercenary forces from the Wagner Group took control of the city. The city had been destroyed by the war and Chechen Kadyrovites were suspected of having participated in the closing phase of the assault. The withdrawal of Ukrainian forces was verified by Haidai. [10] [2]

On May 8, Haidai claimed in his Telegram channel that only half of the city was under Russian control[10], although he later acknowledged that Ukrainian forces had left Popasna.

[11] Popasna was deemed to be entirely under Russian control by Western assessments. Russian and LPR forces reportedly started installing a new Russian-backed government in the city and continued to move west as part of the bigger offensive, according to the pro-Russian Telegram channel RIA FAN. [12]

Aftermath

On August, a video and photographs of the head and hands of a Ukrainian prisoner of war trapped on poles appeared. The captured soldier's damaged body was first seen on the film, followed by his head being impaled on a wooden pole with his hands resting on metal spikes on either side of it, in front of a home's yard. The video appeared to have been shot in late July, and the geolocation indicated that it was filmed near Popasna's center; a sign on a wall in one of the images read "21 Nahirna Street." Haidai posted the photographs, the video, and the comments on his Telegram channel "They are in fact orcs. Human skull on the fence, 21st century, seized Popasna, and "The Russians are not human at all. The conflict involves non-humans." On social media, the video received negative feedback. An exiled Russian businessman named Mikhail Khodorkovsky described the image as an illustration of the "Russian world," a phrase of propaganda employed by the Russian government to promote a union of people who speak Russian. Olexander Scherba, former ambassador of Ukraine to Austria, classified the event as a war crime. [13]